Death Sentences Upheld for Kurdish Political Prisoners

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran -- The Iranian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of two Kurdish political prisoners, local sources told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Prison authorities from Rajaee Shahr Prison allegedly told Zanyar Moradi and Loghman Moradi that their death sentences were upheld.

On 22 December 2010, Judge Salavati of Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced the two Kurdish prisoners to a public hanging on the charges of “moharebeh” (enmity with God) and “murder of the son of Marivan’s Friday Imam.”

The source told the Campaign that prison authorities informed the prisoners of this conviction last week. “During a short call to his family, Loghman Moradi confirmed this news, saying that he was shocked upon hearing the verdict, and considering that the notification of the decision was not in writing, he was hopeful that this was done only to intimidate him.”

The lawyer for the two political prisoners told the source that he was also surprised by the announcement, that he has told the families of the prisoners that he had not been formally served a court decision, and that he will be traveling to Tehran to follow up the case at the Supreme Court.

The two political prisoners had previously written letters alleging that they were tortured in prison and forced to make false confessions. (Link in Persian) On 2 February 2011, the two prisoners had submitted the appeal request for their death sentences to the Supreme Court.

In an earlier interview with the Campaign, Zanyar Moradi’s father Eqbal Moradi, a member of the Kurdish opposition group Komalah, said, “How can a 20-year-old kid be a murderer? My son was arrested 20 months ago and after 17 months he was accused of murder and terror. But the people of Mariwan and even the family of the victim know that Zanyar and a few other kids did not do this. All of Mariwan’s people and even the victim’s family know that the murderer in this recent case of murders is none other than the regime, and this has nothing to do with the kids,” he said.

Similarly, Loghman Moradi’s father Osman Moradi told the Campaign, “During the first nine months when [Osman] was at the Intelligence Office Prison, there was no murder charge in his case. Later, during the next seven months when he was held in prison, there was no such talk, either. But they returned him to the Intelligence Ministry again, and held him there for 25 days. He was tortured and abused to the point where he accepted the murder [charge]. I mean he accepted it in order to save himself from those conditions. It took them 17 months to take that confession from him,” Osman Moradi said.